Do You Need an MBA to Be an Entrepreneur?
Credit: Maskot / Getty Images- An MBA program includes broad instruction on core business skills that can help entrepreneurs succeed.
- MBA graduates have founded a number of successful ventures across industries.
- Some top business schools offer entrepreneurship concentrations within their programs with a focus on securing funding and growing an enterprise.
- While an MBA has been shown to generally increase earnings, the degree is also costly. A number of alternatives are available.
Dropping out of college seems to be fashionable among eventual billionaire entrepreneurs.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time — Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and more — dropped out of college to pursue wildly successful ventures. So it goes without saying that you don’t need an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur.
But it likely won’t hurt.
A master of business administration degree, or MBA, can provide additional training, connections, and skills that can help you start a successful business.
Take Merrilee Kick, founder of the popular prepackaged, spherical cocktail company BuzzBallz. She recently credited her MBA from Texas Woman’s University (TWU) with helping her launch her enterprise.
Kick turned her master’s thesis into the basis for the business plan that led her to launch BuzzBallz/Southern Champion. When it launched in 2009, that venture was the only woman-owned distillery, winery, and brewery combo in the U.S.
“My MBA from TWU enabled me to write a solid business plan for what became BuzzBallz, a billion-dollar company,” Kick said in a press release.
MBA programs cover fundamental business skills. Some programs even have dedicated entrepreneurship concentrations and specializations that aim to help you start and grow a business.
How an MBA Can Help You Become an Entrepreneur
Graduates of MBA programs have founded a number of successful businesses in recent years and collectively raised billions in capital.
Many of those startups are in booming industries, like the rapidly growing financial technology (fintech) sector.
An MBA program typically includes instruction on a range of business topics, like finance and marketing, to give students a broad-based understanding of how to manage an organization.
Top business schools are also overwhelmingly embracing fast-growing fields like fintech, artificial intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania recently announced broad investments in AI, and American University’s Kogod School of Business infused AI throughout its curriculum.
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Finance and accounting | Finance is key to running a business, and a growing number of MBA programs include instruction in the fast-growing field of fintech. |
| Marketing | Programs are increasingly incorporating digital marketing strategies into their curricula. Successfully marketing an emerging business is critical to its success, whether the audience is potential investors or consumers. |
| Management and leadership | Managing a team and motivating people will be critical to the success of any business, and MBA programs have long thrived in the field of leadership. |
| Analytics | Every company is a tech company, and working with data will be key regardless what field you open a business in. |
| Strategic thinking | Starting a business inevitably means making tough decisions. Strategic thinking means taking a number of quantitative and qualitative factors into account when making a decision. |
| Economics | While finance and accounting drill down into the ways money flows through a business, economics gives a wider look at how a business exists in the broader context of the economy. |
| Communications | Effective communication, like strategic thinking, is an important “soft skill” for business leaders. Entrepreneurs need to know how to effectively communicate their business to both potential partners and customers. |
Some MBA programs also offer concentrations focused on entrepreneurship. Those concentrations usually include elective classes that hone skills around starting and growing a startup, such as securing seed funding and growing a new venture.
The benefits of an MBA extend beyond the skills a program teaches. Networking is another major benefit of pursuing the popular graduate degree.
Both online and in-person programs tend to have a cohort format, meaning students work through the same classes together and collaborate on projects. Schools have worked to build those networking opportunities into their online MBAs for working students in recent years.
MBA Alternatives
An MBA program’s sweeping instruction on business leadership can help you succeed as an entrepreneur — but it’s far from the only route to take to succeed in starting a business.
A growing number of business schools offer alternative degree programs — like a master’s in business analytics and master’s in management — that also cover key entrepreneurial skills. Some business schools, like Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, have also launched AI-focused business degrees.
But a master’s degree can be a costly endeavor: While an MBA has been shown to generally boost earnings, it also comes at a high cost.
An MBA typically costs around $30,000 a year and takes roughly two years of full-time instruction to complete. Online, part-time programs tend to be less expensive than their full-time, in-person counterparts.
Many business schools also offer nondegree “mini MBA” programs that provide rigorous, fast-paced overviews of core business skills. You can also take massive online open courses (MOOCs) — free, open-access online courses that can be completed at your own pace.